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Value of College and other Fun Discussions

So it’s a rainy Friday in the Bay Area. On the one hand, that is a very good thing because we need the rain, on the other hand, it’s not because I’m still battling a cold and it just makes me want to crawl back into bed and go to sleep. But faithful readers, it will take more than a cold to keep the Waki Librarian from sharing some goodies to make your Friday a little brighter.

First up, Photoshop tutorial. The 60 most wanted Photoshop tutorials to be exact. I’ve managed to keep Photoshop off the blog, but now must share my unending love affair with this program. I love Photoshop–it is fabulous and I know you can find free photo editing software too, which rocks, but my heart belongs to Photoshop. And now with these wonderful, free tutorials on Photoshop, I will never be able to put down my Wacom tablet and pen as I test out more interesting fire effects and painting effects.

What does this have to do with libraries? Well, I’m sure we all know of a few libraries, organizations and/or logos in need of an update or two. Now with Photoshop you can make fabulous graphics or just clean up some photos taken at your last library event. Yes, Photoshop is super-powerful and has a pretty steep learning curve, but if you like design (even a little bit) you will be so glad you learned it.

Moving on now to something that I think is right on point to our continuing discussions of libraries, education, technology and fun is this article called, “Rethink the Value of College”. It is a timely piece about how much a college education is worth in this time of economic uncertainty. It also asks the question: what is the best way to prepare young people for the changes ahead and the fact that most will have multiple careers and jobs. College is still valuable, but it must be re-evaluated and re-engineered to fit today’s paradigm. Coming to college without adequate preparedness hurts everyone and leaving college with staggering amounts of student loan debt hurts many students. We seriously need a holistic re-evaluation and re-alignment of how we educate and prepare people in our colleges and universities.

Now, of course, I can’t leave you on such a gloomy thought on a Friday. So here is one of my absolutely favorite photography blogs A Walk through Durham Township, Pennsylvania. While Kathleen Connally is somewhat uneven in her execution of her photographs, the majority are absolutely beautiful and make even this sun loving California girl think snow looks pretty. Two of my favorites are titled “My Dream Studio” and “Mr. Darcy (A Baby Pygmy Goat).” And did I mention you can RSS it?